In a large auction hall, in one of the private rooms sat an old man. He was quite large and had an extremely sharp expression. He had a sword-like aura that seemed to define him, sharp and dangerous. This old man was wearing a long white robe. He had a few attendants with him, all dressed simply, just like he was. 

“My Lord, it would seem that there is something worth buying today.” Said the attendant closest to the old man.

“Bah! You’re wasting your breath. There is nothing in this tiny city that I, the Great General Moto, could possibly want. Lang, I really can’t understand why you would bring me to such a boring event.” Said the old man in a somewhat annoyed tone.

“I assure you my Lord there is something. Rumor has it that there are two high quality slaves being auctioned.”

The old man immediately turned to look towards his attendant. Seeing that his master was paying attention, the attendant, whose name was Lang, was feeling pleased with himself and so, he continued on.

“Apparently two children were being auctioned. One was a twelve year old girl, who is a cultivator with incredible talent.” 

The general was pleased with this information. He never thought that he would find such a gem in such a tiny city. “Humph, whether or not she is talented, will be up to me to decide. Nevertheless, you did well Lang. It seems this trip won't be as boring after all.” The general picked up a glass of wine from the table in front of them and started drinking. He only drank wine if he was in a good mood.

Lang saw that he had his master right where he wants him.

“Haha my Lord, that's nothing, the other slave is far more interesting. Apparently it’s a former noble, a twelve year old boy from the Southern Grasslands, with purple hair!”

The general immediately spat out the wine he was drinking, and he started coughing, patting his chest so he could clear his throat. Lang and his other companions laughed when they saw this. Although they were only his attendants, their Master was very kind and didn't mind this sort of thing. He was a rather unique character in the region.

…

After some time, a very attractive and scantily dressed young woman walked up to the stage. She was very calm, and appeared to be used to this sort of thing. Many men in the room stared at her greedily, like how a beggar would stare at gold. She merely smiled at this, and began the auction.

Many objects were sold in the auction. Some magical, some ornamental, some with very strange functions. General Moto and his crew were inactive throughout. They merely looked on as if nothing of note was happening.

“Now honored guests, it is time for the slave auction!”

As soon as the general and his crew heard this, their expressions grew solemn. The air in the entire auction hall seemed to have changed somehow. It felt like the atmosphere before a cataclysmic event, like there was about to be a war.

Slaves were always the main attraction in auctions that occurred in the Western Desserts. Many high class slaves were sold. Some were very beautiful young women, others, very robust looking men. The most valuable of course were slaves that had cultivation. These were very expensive.

On the Sovereign Continent, they only used one currency. Coins. A hundred copper coins were equal to one silver coin. A hundred silver coins were equal to one gold coin. A hundred gold coins were equal to one platinum coin, and a hundred platinum coins were equal to one obsidian coin.

A loaf of bread cost about one copper coin. Anything below that value was usually sold using barter trade. The value of an average mature slave, without any defects, was about 2 silver coins give or take. The value of an average mature cultivation slave, was about 10 silver coins give or take. Thus in such auctions silver coins were the main currency used.

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“Now ladies and gentlemen it is time for the main event.”

As soon as the girl said this the entire hall quieted down. They knew what was coming. Up to this point the most valuable slave had been a 16 year old girl, who was a mage with decent talent. She was bought for 50 silver coins. This had set a new record in the auction house, since the house gets ten percent from all auctions, they were extremely happy with today's results.

“We are about to show you, are without a doubt, the most valuable slaves in the Great Desert of Shandelar! It is a pair of children. One is a warrior with the cultivation of an upper Student! She is only twelve years old and is in perfect condition. She is untouched and docile.”

The entire hall went into an uproar as soon as they heard this. They had known that the auction was selling valuable slaves but they never thought it would be this serious! A twelve year old upper student! This was practically unheard off!

From 6 years old children learnt to sense World Energy, but they can only start to take it into their bodies when they become ten years old. Otherwise their bodies would not be able to handle the strain.

Cultivation was a slow and arduous process. On average it took almost ten years to become a middle Student. Yet this girl had become an upper Student in only two. This was undoubtedly a prodigy!

After letting the noise settle down, the auctioneer continued speaking.

“The other is a twelve year old noble from the Southern Grasslands. He has no cultivation but is well educated and is undoubtedly the most valuable.”

The crowd started making noise again.

Valuable? Sure he was but more so than the girl? When he doesn't even have any cultivation?

To the audience this was absurd. That was until they saw Bastian and V walk on to the stage.

The moment the audiences saw Bastian, they went into an even bigger uproar than before. Some people couldn't help but stand up. Others rubbed their eyes, to make sure that they were seeing correctly. This however, made no difference. For what they saw was indeed true. It was purple hair!

Now they understood why the auctioneer had said the boy was more valuable. He had purple hair! The vast majority of the most powerful cultivators from the Southern Grasslands had purple hair, this signified their powerful bloodline.

Not only was there a young slave with purple hair before them, it was male! That meant it could produce a lot of offspring, further increasing its value.

As the crowd was buzzing, Bastian looked around for Ben's presence. Due to being Ben's Meister, this was easy. Sure enough he found him. Sitting amongst the audience wearing black robes.

Ben looked very confident. Which relieved Bastian. This meant he had found the treasure and was carrying it on him. With Ben's intelligence, his confidence wouldn't be for naught.

“There is however a catch, this young boy made an oath to the heavens that if he was ever separated from this little girl, who he loves, he would commit suicide. Thus, they have to be sold as a pair regretfully.”

As she said this the auctioneer looked very sad, and rightfully so. For if they had sold them separately, they would more likely, make more money. Alas fate was cruel, so they had to sell both a once.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we will start the bidding, at 10 gold coins!”

The hall once more became silent, painfully so, the silence made such a powerful and forceful imposition that some felt it would be rude to make any sudden movements. 10 gold was a lot of money. For some in the hall, it was what they made in a year!

Those who could afford such an astronomical sum were very few. Thus the dreamers had to give up. One of people in the room however was very pleased. It was Ben. After arriving at the place were Bastian had been found, he had spent nearly two weeks digging, looking for anything left over from Bastian's entourage. After two weeks he finally found Bastian's carriage, and a lot of dead bodies.

All in all, he got just over a 50 gold coins! He was incredibly happy. He knew that in Baltize, no one could afford to compete with him, since he carried such a huge sum.

Ben was about to shout out his bid, when a powerful male voice rang out.

“80 gold coins!”

Silence.

Absolute silence.

Even Bastian was stumped. He had estimated that the money Ben had on him would be at most 60 gold coins.

So when he heard this voice, his face became extremely ugly.

This voice was deep and overbearing. As if it was stating that it allowed no room for discussion. Everyone, including Bastian and Ben tried to look for the source of the voice. They could only see that it was from one of the private rooms on the second floor. It was covered by a dark coloured glass, so one could see who was inside.

Due to his distress, Bastian almost lost control of his body, and he accidentally activated his e-vision. Then he saw something ridiculous. The majority of the flakes in the entire hall, were hovering around the room where the voice had come from!